Dearest Family,
I hope Jesse has had a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today
- I have thought about you all day and wondered if you had a party with
Gordy and other friends - I hope so!!!
I have had a fun and exciting day. I
believe I told you that our Stake was going to be divided today and we
were going to meet in the Historic Tabernacle on Temple Square - we did
and it was completely full!!! Margaret and I went with Patt & Darrell
Guthrie at 11 a.m. and it was a good meeting but the condos have been
divided away from almost everyone with whom we have been meeting. We
will be meeting with close neighbors who have been in another ward and
it will be good to become acquainted with them but we'll miss our other
friends. Our Relief Society President has been released and we will get
a new Bishop. We will meet in our respective wards next Sunday but just
for Sacrament Meeting and then they will organize everything. I have
never been to a meeting like this one and it was very interesting - Bro.
Wood and Bro. Garff were the General Authorities who took charge of all
the changes. I couldn't help but think about the time Lynn was
sustained as Stake President of the Arkansas Stake and we always had the
General Authorities stay at our home but they don't do that here.
I had an interesting day yesterday too - we
have a new Temple President and they started their assignments
yesterday. The new Bountiful Temple President is Stephen Richards from
Salt Lake and he is a retired cardio-vascular surgeon - his wife spoke
to us in our prayer meeting and she is so very nice and she is my age.
She told us about their lives and they have been in church service most
of the time - she said it took her husband 16 years to get through
medical school and that was after 4 years of military service. After he
retired they went to the Phillipines as Mission President - they went
from there to Nauvoo to serve a medical mission for the missionaries in
that mission. One of the new counselors is a Donald Woolley and when I
saw that his wife's name is Norma it rang a bell - I believe they came
to stay with us in Little Rock when he was a Regional Representative and
then they visited us in Montana. I'll have to wait until I meet her to
find out for sure. There are ALOT of Woolleys in the church!!!
The big news for this week is about the
funeral for Aunt Elaine Mellor Miller. I was SO proud to have Ann,
Jean, Bob & John with me and it was a very nice occasion. I know that
Elaine and Lynn would be very happy with the way Elaine's son, Matt,
arranged the funeral. Matt had about 25 of Elaine's pictures displayed
throughout the church and they were just gorgeous. He gave a beautiful
tribute to his Mother and he asked for anyone who had any of her
pictures to please take pictures of them and send them to him so he
could make an album of all her pictures - WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! Elaine's
children and grandchildren were there and so were all her sisters and
most of their families. One of her little granddaughters is named after
her - Elaina - and she is darling. I was very saddened to see Art
Willardsen who is suffering with pancreatic cancer - he has lost about
50 pounds and I hardly recognized him but he looks good even though he
is thin. I had a difficult time remembering many of our relatives'
names and I feel bad about that. Shirley gave a wonderful talk about
Elaine's life - Elaina gave a prayer - Aunt Ramona who is close to 90
years old gave a prayer too and she looks SO good!!! Elaine's daughter
Jill gave a talk and it was sad to see how crippled she is - she can
hardly walk. Aunt Carol looks just the same - she came without her
husband who stayed in Manti. Carol Ann is suffering with a back problem
but she is a real trooper and was there with her daughter Memory and
daughter-in-law Kallene.
We (Ann, Jean, Bob & John) had a little
business meeting in Salt Lake with Wayne Snow who handles all my
investments before we went to Provo for the funeral. He made some
suggestions and we agreed to the changes he wanted me to make. It makes
me very happy to have my children help me with my finances - I am
forgetting too many things!!! Wayne has done such a good job for me
since he first started handling my investments and we all know that has
not been easy with the economic conditions since 911.
I am going to send you some pictures taken
at the funeral - I hope you can access them without any problems. I
took pictures of all the paintings Elaine has given to us but they
didn't turn out - I had planned to send them to Matt but I used a flash
and they have too much light on them.
John came by on Thursday night and he took
pictures with his digital camera and I hope if they are good he will
send copies to Matt. This is Matt's address: Matt & Hayley Miller
- 1270 East 2000 North Provo, Utah 84604
I had an experience I won't soon forget when
I went to the Tanner Clinic to pick up my hearing aid that was being
cleaned. They are having construction to make more parking places and I
"got stuck" in a place in back of the clinic. There were two rows of
parking and the entrance into the back lot was made by a parking place
next to a fire hydrant. I didn't think I could park that close to a
fire hydrant so I went along to a parking place in the back row - when I
came out to come home there was a car in the parking place by the fire
hydrant and it completely blocked any way to get out. I moved one of
those orange barriers and tried to "squeeze" through between the hydrant
and a big pipe - I ended up scratching my car!!! In desparation I
finally went in to Bob's office to see if he could help me BUT he wasn't
in his office. One of the VERY nice girls in his office said she would
come help me and then a doctor came and said he would move his car to
make a place for me to get out. The young woman, Cindy, was just
wonderful and backed my car up so I could move. When I think back on
it, I believe some doctors were watching me from their offices and I
just wish they had offered to move a car so I could get out before I
"messed up" my car!!! I had been to the eye doctor and he had dilated
my eyes so my vision wasn't as good as it should have been or I wouldn't
have scratched my car!!!
I'm sure you have all read about the
terrible fires in California. I just can't imagine what it would be
like to lose everything to a fire and I am SO sorry for them. I have
always thought I would hurry to gather up my picture albums in case of
an emergency like that - now I believe I will get a safety deposit box
to put in the discs from my picture project. John helped me learn how
to "scan" the rest of the pictures - Ricky worked all Summer doing that
and I appreciate that SO much and also all of John's help. It will be a
fun Winter project for me to scan pictures - I worry about using up all
the hard drive in the computer but John assured me that he could replace
it when it's time.
Susanna - thank you SO much for your sweet
letter and your e-mail message. I'm SO glad Steve's parents have been
out to see you and have helped with Jackson so you could have a little
"night out". Jessie - thank you SO much too for your e-mail message
telling me about the San Diego fire situation. Jessie had to have her
things packed in case she had to evacuate - I'm sure she has been close
to many of the people whose homes have been lost. Mary Ann - thank you
SO much too for your e-mail message. It was so funny, when I saw that I
had a message from "Mary Ann Parker" I almost deleted it. It's hard for
me to get used to your last name - you are VERY busy and I appreciate
your taking time to write a note.
I REALLY appreciate hearing from Annie,
Claire & Bob too. The Weinerts have been in California for a few days
helping with little Preston so Barji could be with Boyd during his golf
tournaments - hope you haven't been close to the fire situation. We
have had snow and rain this past week and we're all VERY happy - we need
the moisture.
I am going to Star Valley with Margaret for
a few days this week. She had planned to go tomorrow but the weather
prediction is for stormy weather so she'll probably wait until Tuesday.
She has to be there for a hospital board meeting on Thursday I believe.
I LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH.
PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO.
Grandma B XXXXXOOOOO